Reports surfaced on Tuesday that a number of representatives of the Czech
Roma community are considering founding a new party focussing on Roma
issues, including how to tackle long-standing social problems and ethnic
tension between communities. Those have grown especially in North Bohemia
in recent weeks. While some, like notable sociologist Ivan Gabal have
praised the project so far – he told a national Czech newspaper such a
party could “change the atmosphere in Czech politics and improve the
social climate”, many others are sceptical, saying like parties before
it, this one too is unlikely to succeed.

Pavel Pečínka is the editor-in-chief of the Roma-issues magazine Amaro
Gendalos:

“I have to say in the past we’ve seen many similar attempts to found
different Roma parties and I am afraid this project will end exactly the
same. In some respect it’s better to do nothing than to make the same
mistake again and again. Founding a political party is not easy: you have
to take certain steps and follow certain procedures. The problem is that a
lot of local Roma representatives, associations, NGOs and so on, suffer
from a similar problem: they are founded on familial or local grounds and
operate in local conditions which do not translate well on a larger scale.
Shared goals and aims often fall apart when funnelled into larger projects
of this kind.”

Mr Pečínka suggests that organisers, connected with the Lety memorial in
Bohemia, have not fully thought the project through, stressing that one of
the major hurdles to such a party’s success lies in the Roma community
itself. For one, the voter base is small: it has been estimated that around
193,000 Roma live in the Czech Republic and not all of course can vote. Two
is the problem of disinterest among Roma who are secluded on the periphery
facing far more acute problems daily than politics. Pavel Pečínka again:

“The fact is that the potential voter base is separated from the elite
and there are certain cultural and educational differences. Also, half of
the country’s Roma now live in ghettos and have problems of their own. So
there is no real way for them to even be reached by political parties. If I
see hope anywhere, it is not in this project but in individuals: young
activists involved in NGOs or the media: I think they can make a
difference.”

The new political party, if formed, will be called ADAJ Czech daily Mlada
fronta Dnes has written, noting the name means “We’re here” in
Romani, a response apparently to the fact that many in the community feel
all too often they have been overlooked. In this light, Mlada fronta Dnes
suggests that the move could be positive, that the party could have an
impact not only on the communal level but even in Parliament through
cooperation with one of the major parties. But that continues to strike
others as pure “science fiction”. Even if founded, many argue that
internal divisions and strife in the new party will soon come to the fore,
leading it to a similar end like similar projects in the past.